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Ireland Squads for North America Tour and Churchill Cup

11 May 2009 16:03pm

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The Ireland squad for the summer international tour will be captained by Ulster captain Rory Best.

The squad shows a mixture of youth in addition to a strong spine of experience for the two international test matches against Canada and the USA at the end of the month with 12 uncapped players making the trip.

Six other Ulster players; Bryan Young, Ryan Caldwell, Darren Cave, Tom Court, Chris Henry and Niall O'Connor, have also been named on the touring squad. While Ulster's Isaac Boss and Ed O'Donoghue have been named on the Churchill Cup squad.

With Leinster qualified for the Heineken Cup final on May 23rd, the same day as the test match against Canada, and 13 players travelling to South Africa with the British & Irish Lions as well as any possible replacements being called up, the Ireland tour gives an opportunity for players to put themselves in the frame for next season.

Ireland Coach Declan Kidney said: "When we confirmed the tour back in January, we were always hopeful some of the provinces and players would be involved in the Heineken or Challenge Cup finals and we would also be without any players selected for the British & Irish Lions tour. We felt that it would be a chance for the national management to work closely with a larger pool of players than we would normally do during the season and for players to come through at this level. We are continuing to try and build a squad and this tour is a real chance for players to stake a claim for the November games and next year's championship."

While several players are being rested for the tour, 12 capped players are named in the travelling party with Peter Stringer, Bob Casey, Eoin Reddan, Mick O'Driscoll and Denis Leamy among those lending their considerable experience for the tour.

This experience will be important in helping some of the younger members come through which include several new faces to the international squad. Hooker Sean Cronin and his Connacht Captain John Muldoon are both included, as are Niall Ronan and Ulster's Chris Henry for the first time. Prop Mike Ross, the capped Donnacha Ryan and Ulster second row Ryan Caldwell have all been members of the Ireland squad in the past but are included for their first senior tour.

There are two specialists out halves named with Ian Keatley and Ulster's Niall O'Connor both included along with Ian Dowling, Ulster's Darren Cave and Denis Hurley among the backs.

Declan Kidney continued: "The number of experienced players we are bringing is important as we will have two strong oppositions on consecutive weekends to deal with and while there will be new caps during the tour, it is important that they come through while making it a positive experience. We obviously want to win both games, but it is a balancing act trying to do that while exposing players and new combinations to test match level."

"This is our first tour together and with many players not available, it does add another unknown element to it against the backdrop of starting the tour off by playing a Canada side certainly looking to get one over us after last year's game."

The Churchill Cup squad will be captained by John Muldoon and will also be under the national management's guidance this year to widen the pool of players that the coaches have experience of working with. The tournament includes teams from Argentina, USA, Canada, Georgia and the England Saxons and will see Ireland A play pool games against Canada and Georgia as well as a final game in the tournament playoffs. The 27 man squad will include players from Leinster following the Heineken Cup final and will also see several from the senior tour also taking part to further their game time experience.

Commenting on the Churchill Cup, Kidney said: "The three games in the Churchill Cup tournament will increase the opportunity for pitch time for players, so we felt that it would be important to bring some on the senior tour and the Churchill Cup. I know that players such as Keith Earls and Darren Cave benefited hugely from their Churchill Cup experience, so this will be a good opportunity for many of the players who have not been involved before. We will be playing Canada for the third time in 12 months with our third different team as well as playing Georgia, who we faced in the last world cup, so it will be good exposure for the players to test level rugby. "